D Day, February 14th V Day, March 14th
by Saotome Kyuubi
Summary: Valentine's day is near and Ranma plans to catch him a tomboy... RaAk obviously
1. The Prelude, in which Ranma plans

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and all the characters, trademarks etc. belong to Rumiko Takahashi and to their other rightful owners. To sum it up: I don't own Ranma

"Spoken"

_-Thought-_

**D-Day, February 14th… V-Day, March 14th**

The Prelude, in which Ranma plans for Valentine's Day…

Saotome Ranma was walking exactly 1,011187 meters …about, give or take a nanometer… behind his fiancée, slightly to her left side. He had calculated the distance during math class to alleviate his boredom since he didn't sleep at school anymore. Ranma had actually started to pay some attention at school and had coaxed Akane into helping him with his homework and it showed, his grades weren't abysmal anymore… only nearly so.

Smiling ruefully he contemplated on the changes that had occurred in his life after the whole Saffron incident and the failed wedding. He still had the multiple fiancées issue, something that wasn't going to work itself out and the poor excuse of a father he had wasn't really helping either. Ryoga was still being a pest, he had showed up as 'P-chan' only a week after the wrecked wedding and had promptly caused trouble between him and Akane.

_-That damn bacon breath… He said he'd go to Akari but still comes back to trouble me and trying to cuddle against Akane's breasts. Served him right when Akari caught him red handed and dumped him, now only if the tomboy would figure out that her 'widdle P-chan' is not exactly what he seems to be. That and the 'Ranma prepare to die!' and 'Ranma it's all your fault!' act is getting really old, I mean seriously… how is it my fault that Akari dumped him?-_

Ranma would have scowled but decided against it... if you didn't count the usual irritants that were part of his life, you could say that things had gotten a lot better. He looked at Akane's back and smiled slightly, they had gotten along considerably better after Jusendo… they really hadn't spoken about their relationship, but had formed a sort of silent agreement between the two of them. That, and Ranma now had two allies helping him, Kasumi and surprisingly his mother…

**-Flashback-**

It was a day after the failed wedding when Ranma entered the kitchen, where Kasumi was bustling about, going through her motions while preparing yet another of her mouth watering feasts. Ranma also noted that his mother was there helping Kasumi by chopping up some vegetables, he shrugged not really caring whether his mother heard him or not. Kasumi noted his somewhat troubled, yet determined look and asked. "Can I help you Ranma-kun?"

His mother looked at him when she heard this. Ranma only nodded, and then began to put his thoughts to words. "Ano Kasumi-chan… you know that ah, I'm not too good with talking an' stuff. You know because that stupid panda raised me to be a douche bag, he really didn't teach me anything besides hitting stuff so I was wondering…"

He never got to finish when his mother began to caress her Katana suggestively and said "Now Ranma… it's not manly to blame your shortcomings on others, even if they were the resul…"

A vein popped on Ranma's forehead, this was exactly what pissed him off the most… everyone, aside from Kasumi and to an extent Akane, just wanted him to do things and used threats, imposed guilt or whatnot to try and make him do what they wanted. It never was about what he wanted, ever… Something just snapped in his mind when his own mother of all people was trying to do that. He got really angry and yelled "SHUT UP!"

Nodoka was shaken by the sudden outburst and tried to point out that it wasn't 'manly' to yell at your own mother, Ranma however would have none of that. "Would you cut that fucking shit out already mother." he narrowed his eyes. "You are just like the rest of them, if you want me to do something you don't even bother to ask, you simply caress that damn sword and state that it's manly to do whatever it is you want." He lowered his voice. "It ends now, one way or the other… two weeks ago I killed using the art, I killed to save my fiancée. Not only that… I killed a being that was supposedly immortal, a phoenix god of all things…"

He sighed and set his face in a determined mask "If that's not manly enough for you then get your damn Katana and lop my head off already. If it is then just shut the hell up about the damn contract and try to act like a freakin mother you are supposed to be."

Now Nodoka Saotome was a proud and collected woman, but no amount of pride or self control could stop her from reacting the way she did. She jerked as if shot when the harsh words his own son had said sunk in… then images of herself hanging the damnable contract over his head, manipulating him to do whatever it was she wished him to do. Eyes brimming with tears she dropped the Katana as if it was burning and then rushed out of the kitchen leaving a trail of tears on her wake.

Ranma felt like crap when he began to calm down, he had lost control, which was something he really hated. Granted, the last few weeks had been bad but still… he then felt a soft hand touch his shoulder. "Ranma-kun… don't worry about it, I'll talk to her when she has had some time to calm down." Kasumi smiled gently at the boy. "Now if you would please finish chopping those vegetables…"

**-End Flashback-**

Yeah, things certainly had changed after that… Nodoka after calming down had torn the contract before Ranma and then burned the shreds, something that she also asked he keep from his father so that the part time panda was easier to control. She proved to be apt in controlling the meddling fathers, whenever they began to plan for yet another way to get their wayward children together Nodoka would begin caressing the naked blade of the Saotome family sword… a sight that for some reason always drove Genma into fits of nervous sweating.

And now he was plotting… while most people would say that Ranma was incapable of deep thought, something that amazed him to no ends. Seriously he wasn't stupid, just… well he really had lacked a proper role model while growing up, as someone who tosses his own son to a pit of starved cats, thinks that going to school is a waste of time and has questionable morals isn't exactly best parent material. So Ranma wasn't a moron and besides, he'd started to treat his life as a martial arts challenge… and Saotome Ranma didn't lose, ever.

He really didn't even notice that they had arrived at Furinkan High, or that he had punted the 'true blunder' into the school wall, not many noticed that actually since it was business as usual. Ranma became more aware when he suddenly found himself sitting in classroom, staring at Akane's back with a concentrated look. _-Akane, it was all about Akane… The doc was right, she really is a sweet girl when she lets it show, though it took me long enough to figure it out.-_ They still fought but it was more like a verbal sparring instead of vicious insulting, rarely escalating into anything physical… rarely and thus Ranma had stopped earning frequent flyer bonuses from Mallet Airways.

He smiled wistfully, thinking back to the pivotal turning point in their 'relationship'. All it took was a little mustered courage and an apologetic "Akane… you know I don't mean those things I say about you, right?" when they were walking to school and a frantic "Whatever you do, don't throw water on us, if and when that bimbo tries to latch on me… I'm liable to seriously hurt her if I slip into the Neko-ken…" when they tried to run away from an amorous Shampoo only moments later.

Shampoo, along with the lost-boy, was one of the more irritating aspects in his life. She just didn't get the message… oh he had tried and sure enough she had only blinked and then started the whole 'Wo ai ni… airen' routine as if nothing had happened. When he'd tried again, this time with more force she had flown of the handle and started ranting about how he, as a male should be 'obedient' and come to Joketsuzoku with her on the spot. She was also most likely candidate to try and kill off Akane, which was the very reason Ranma had swallowed his pride and had offered to train Akane in the art.

He cast a last longing look at his tomboyish fiancée and then began to go through his plan, trying to find faults in it, exploit any weaknesses if any… and to do the same for his backups should the craziness that was 'normal' for Nerima wreak havoc to his plan, he even had a contingency for your odd prince or the like coming to steal Akane for his bride. If the thing worked then he would have the tomboy for sure and the rest of the Nerima Wrecking Crew would be forced to deal with it, no more would he have hordes of fiancées or fiancée wannabes hounding after him. Now if someone would only commit the Kunos to a mental asylum…

The school day was over soon enough, time really flew when you were having fun… or when you tried to go through a masterful plan that would land you a fiancée, a plan that would require almost no talking… It irritated him to now end that despite all the lessons from Kasumi and his mother Ranma still had trouble expressing himself, especially to Akane. Shrugging mentally he gathered his books and walked out from the classroom right behind Akane, the trip home was uneventful and Ranma for once made it through the whole way without getting drenched.

------

After some sparring, during which Ranma actively instructed Akane… he still refused to hit her but did fight back and tag her if he found holes in her defences, it was dinner time. It was almost like a normal dinner with the exception that Ranma was eating normally, not fighting his father, who had learned not to try and take Ranma's food soon after the failed wedding… a glare from Kasumi, a splash of water, a platter of bamboo and a warning that anymore attempts to steal Ranma's food from him would result in bamboo dinners, was all that it took to stop the fights.

Ranma sniffed the miso soup before eating it and sure enough, it was made by Akane, it was by no means inedible as she had progressed in cooking just like she had progressed in the art… well maybe not as much as she had in the art. Still, Akane could now make simple dishes like soups and she also could cook rice without ruining it, if she was in a good mood that is, and she had recently started making pretty good cookies. Her garlic laced 'cookies' made a killer snack, actually and they served another purpose… Ranma had found out that Shampoo detested the smell of garlic and thus was much less prone to try and shove her tongue into his mouth if he had ingested the garlicky goodies.

After dinner it was time to do the homework, something that Ranma enjoyed immensely… not because he really liked solving differential equations or stuff like that, but because it was mostly uninterrupted time he got to spend with Akane. As an added bonus it also drove Ryoga absolutely mad, since Akane had tossed P-chan out after series biting incidents… and when he'd been allowed back in the room it had taken Ranma only a slight leaning towards Akane to drive the pig wild and teeth first into his arm. After that P-chan was always set out in the hallway during these study sessions.

So there they were up in Akane's room, sitting side by side and going through some more complex math problems. Or Akane went through them, seeing as Ranma was too giddy to really concentrate on the homework… it was time to start. He cast a furtive glance at his fiancée and asked. "So you going to ask Kasumi to help you make chocolate this year?" This caused Akane to shift her concentration from the homework to the pigtailed boy sitting next to her. "I mean, cause your cooking has been improving and all but you probably don't want to poison anyone you decide to give chocolate to…"

Ranma pointedly fixed his eyes to the math problems they had to solve. "So anyway, what's the answer to problem number five?" Akane blinked and then mumbled something incoherent while trying to figure out exactly what had happened. _-Oh my god, did he just ask me, in a very roundabout way, to make him Valentine's day chocolate?-_ She was actually shell shocked, this was the closest thing to a admission of any kind of feelings she'd gotten from him since that day in Jusendo. She gaped at Ranma who seemed to be completely immersed in his math problems, an image that was made somewhat incredulous seeing as he had the wrong page open and all.

She smiled evilly and pointed the fact out to Ranma who blushed furiously confirming her suspicions. _-He does want me to make him that chocolate… the baka, why can't he just ask me directly? Maybe he's paranoid about someone hearing, if, heavens preserve us, our fathers heard him asking we would married in an instant.-_

This was indeed the very reason Ranma was being as vague as possible, the unwritten law of chaos, or the 'Saotome Ranma theorem' clearly stated that should he ask Akane for some chocolate directly, it would be heard by at least one parent and one fiancée and/or one of the other random crazies that were norm in Nerima. He had also planned for the possibility that Akane, who could be totally oblivious on an occasion, would not get his subtle hinting… a plan that apparently went unneeded as Akane nodded thoughtfully and almost whispered. "You are probably right, I should ask for help… if I decide to make chocolate that is…"

Ranma did a mental high-five… there was a tone that said 'message received and acknowledged' in her final statement. He smiled and nodded pointing at the book and said "So… problem five?"

------

And herein ends the Prelude: in which Ranma planned… and did some other stuff, like fed the koi and kicked the panda twice…

A/N…

Nothing here much, most of the notes will be in the last chapter. Including a small cultural reference on to white day/valentine's day in japan…


	2. February 14th, D Day…

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and all the characters, trademarks etc. belong to Rumiko Takahashi and to their other rightful owners. To sum it up: I don't own Ranma

"Spoken"

_-Thought-_

**D-Day, February 14th… V-Day, March 14th**

February 14th, D-Day… also known as Valentine's Day…

Ranma carefully cracked his eye open, today was the big day… the D-Day. He surveyed his surroundings, no purple hair anywhere, thus no Shampoo… check. No leotards, ribbons or insane gymnasts… check. He dared to let out a sigh of relief before hazarding the perils the day would certainly bring with it. He pulled open the door and almost tripped over Akane, who was obviously on her way to the bathroom, the aqua-transsexual martial artists mumbled a hasty good morning and vaulted past Akane and into the bathroom eliciting a loud "Ranma no BAKA… I was going to go there." from the blue haired girl to which the boy responded with a "Nyahaa slowpoke!"

If anyone had been still asleep in the Tendo household… well they weren't anymore. In the kitchen Nabiki cringed at the loud yells of 'Baka Hentai!' and 'Uncute tomboy!', she sighed while inhaling the aroma of extra strong coffee that she used to jolt herself awake every morning, awake as in alert awake… it would be easier to sleep through a full blown carpet bombing than a normal morning in the Tendo Dojo. She shook her head in disappointment and muttered. "Just why can't those two get along… seriously it's too early to fight so loudly." Still shaking her head she headed to the dining room mumbling something under her breath while Nodoka and Kasumi simply exchanged glances and a small smile… things were certainly going to get interesting.

After some sparring, a mandatory dunking in the koi pond and a quick hot bath later Ranma was running after Akane to school… well actually he slowed and began walking once they were out of earshot from the Dojo. He was nervous and was sporting somewhat haunted look on his face as they had just left the relative safety of the dojo and were now on the open so to speak, also he had to impress something to his macho fiancée… Ranma rolled his eyes and took a deep breath to regain his composure. "You know Akane, I think that today is goin' to be… lively. Anyway I need you to remember that you are not just anyone. Got that? You are not anyone."

Akane stared at Ranma, this was getting weirder by the day. First he implied that she should make chocolate, an unprecedented, aside from the garlic cookies, incident. Now he was babbling about her not being anyone and going to some length just to drive that point in. She really didn't know if she should be upset and mallet him for forms sake or just let it slide this time, she decided on the latter as the day would likely be more than 'lively' and malleting would probably be needed anyway. _-Right, his instructions were… if Kodachi manages to paralyze him, mallet him to safety. If Shampoo goes neko on him, same thing, also avoid Neko-Ken if possible… He didn't say anything about Ukyo but if she tries to force feed him any chocolate...-_ She smiled lightly… yes, Mallet-sama would probably make an appearance or two during the day.

------

They almost made it to Furinkan high… almost, the gates were in sight when the dreaded 'ring ring' of a ramen delivery bike's bell was heard, only to be followed by a yell of "Xian Pu bring Airen too too good chocolate too."

Luckily for Ranma Shampoo wasn't the only one making her appearance as a shrill "OH-HO-HO-HO fear not Ranma-Sama my paramour… your Valentine, Kodachi, the Black Rose, Kuno is here!" cut the morning air.

That and a loud "Get away from my Ran-chan you hussies!" from a certain Okonomiyaki chef who entered the scene.

Ranma didn't bother to look the gift horse in the mouth and proceeded to use the distraction to his advantage by quickly slipping into the Umi-Sen-Ken and vanishing from sight. He would have laughed at the trio who simply stared at the spot he'd vanished from, had he not been worried about revealing his whereabouts. Quietly moving behind Akane he whispered in a low tone. "Just point to a random direction and say 'I think he went that way…'"

Akane almost jumped out from her skin at that but managed to keep her cool, something that was greatly aided by the troublesome trio, who were in fact engaged in a heated staring match, and complied with the given orders. The effect was better than Ranma could have hoped, the girls took one look at Akane, then at each other and wheeled like a stampeding herd of wild horses to take of into the direction indicated. He waited for a moment for safety's sake and then reappeared right beside Akane.

It was a tactical mistake, seeing how a certain perverted old goat was prowling the neighbourhood. Armed with a bucket of water the old pervert jumped at Ranma, splashed him and then latched into 'her' torso while yelling "Sweeto! Ranma-chan… you do respect your master after all…" Ranma just stood there rubbing 'her' temples, feeling a vein… then another pop on his forehead, he began to shake and then with a loud yell of "YOU OLD FREAK!" launched the shrivelled old grand master of the anything goes school into orbit.

Naturally, as predicted by the not so academically renowned 'Saotome Ranma Theorem', something else was bound to go wrong… "Ah my loves finally thou art free from the vile tyranny of the sorcerous cur Saotome. Ah my fierce and beauteous Akane Tendo and the lovely Pig-tailed goddess… Run to my manly embrace and feel not abashed to proclaim thy feelings for me in the form of those many chocolates that thy own gentle hands have… OOOFFF"

His rant was cut by both Ranma and Akane who simultaneously decided to proclaim their feelings to Kuno, sending him sailing towards the Furinkan high's bell tower. They both shook their head and Ranma muttered. "The creep just keeps coming for his poundings, he's got the tenacity of a cockroach…" Akane snorted in agreement and then yelled "Oh no… hurry or we'll be late."

------

The fiancée brigade didn't make their second appearance until lunch break, all looking somewhat ragged. They all glared daggers and hurled accusations along the lines of 'You are trying to bewitch my Ranma-Sama you you… peasant' towards Akane who only smiled innocently and then declared in a loud voice that "I didn't buy any chocolate to that macho jerk." This naturally caused a rather calculated 'reaction' from Ranma who immediately shot back with his trademark 'Uncute Tomboy' routine. The effect of this equation was one airborne martial artists, but all things considered… it was good to have some fresh air after lunch anyway.

He made it back to class just in time before the lessons started, lessons that very rudely interrupted by three frantic girls who wanted to give 'Airen', 'Ranma-Sama' or 'Ran-chan' the product made with their undying love, namely one laced with passion spice, the other with paralysis powder and third with Okonomiyaki sauce of love. Luckily for Ranma he didn't have to sample any of the products as the girls, who effectively got stuck in the doorway, began to fight out who would be worthy to deliver the box of goodies to the pigtailed boy.

For the first time during the day the 'Saotome Ranma Theorem' worked for his favour as Ms. Hinako yelled "Delinquents!" and then "Happou-goen-satsu." while brandishing a five yen coin. Most of the class watched in awe as the chibi teacher grew into a tall adult woman, while the three girls seemed to deflate like balloons.

The 'Saotome Ranma Theorem' really kicked in after this though, when a large bouquet of black roses that Kodachi had lugged around fell from her limp fingers only to release a large billow of greenish smoke. Ranma smirked _-Ooh I bet that gas was extra strong seeing as it's a special day today, usually it paralyzes me for few hours but if my guess is right they are going to be there till tomorrow…-_

Incidentally as it turned out his guess was wrong… it super strong paralysis gas, and the trio regained full use of their extremities no less than three days later.

Naturally he also got grilled by almost every male member of the Furinkan high student body, they wanted to know if he was going get 'some' from Akane later in the evening. He made a scene of yelling very loud that he didn't want to get any chocolate from ANYONE, especially 'uncute' chicks. Apparently the speech he had given to Akane earlier during their trip to school paid off as he was spared from meeting Mallet-Sama… for now.

------

Rest of the day went like any other normal Nerima holiday, the fathers made their appearance with chocolate they had bought and tried to force Akane to 'give' those particular chocolates to Ranma. This naturally ended in a catastrophe and the end result was a bruised panda, bawling Soun, irate Akane and an airborne Ranma-chan.

Eventually things calmed down though and the two teenagers withdrew to Akane's room for their homework assignments. It really didn't work all too well as both of them were growing more nervous by the minute, luckily though, Hinako-sensei had been in a good mood, presumably because she had drained hefty amounts of battle aura, and had been rather lax in giving homework.

Both teens sat on their respective chairs, their homework finished. Neither uttered a word until finally Ranma decided that enough was enough. He stood up and started to gather his books. "Ah Akane, if we're done then I'll just umm head back to my room… unless…" He began to blush. "Ah I mean that if there's nothing else then I'll just go and…"

Akane smirked inwardly as she thought _-Seriously, if he wants the damn chocolate that bad he should just ask… it's not a big deal right, only signifies that he l…-_ She began to blush slightly as well _-Get a grip girl… don't read anything into it just yet. Anyway I think I've tortured him enough as it is… the poor guy has been jumpy whole evening, then again… so have I… maybe it is a big deal after all.-_

Just as Ranma was about to touch the doorknob a soft "Ranma wait…" stopped him cold. There was some rustling and when he turned around there was Akane nervously offering him a rather largish bag. "I… made these for you… butKasumihelpedandItastedthem." Ranma blinked at the last rushed sentence before smiling lightly and taking the offered bag.

Under Akane's expectant gaze he opened the bag and reached inside to pull out a piece of chocolate, at least he hoped it was a piece of chocolate. It was supposed to be heart shaped he hazarded as a guess, but there certainly was Akane's 'unique' touch in it. Cautiously he sniffed the piece and then popped into his mouth. Akane was now visibly tensing as he chewed at the concoction cautiously, the taste was… different, it wasn't bad really just, he had to find out. "Um Akane… did you possibly by any chance put chili or red pepper in this chocolate?"

He watched as her face fell and hastily added. "It's not bad, just different so I was kinda wondering…" At this Akane perked up and then blushed bright red and began to mumble something under her breath. "What was that…?"

She was torn between getting angry at the stupid insensitive jerk for not letting the issue drop and being elated that the he hadn't hated the chili-chocolates. Deciding to indulge the pervert for once, he had asked anyway, she muttered in a low tone. "I made three types, there's light chocolate and then dark chocolate and then there's the chili chocolate… Kasumi suggested that I make that too because it would be…" Again her voice faded out into nothingness as she blushed badly. Then clearing her throat she stated in a strangled half yell "…because I have a temper and it might be fitting… there you happy now?"

Ranma just stared at the girl, then stared some more and finally put his hand in the bag and popped another piece of chocolate in his mouth. He chewed at it then swallowed, made a thoughtful face and then finally said "Yup!" before bolting out from the room leaving a confused Akane behind.

------

And herein ends the D-day… after the smoke cleared, the guns (woot?) silenced the body count was tallied, there were three downed girls, a delusional kendoist and one innocent bystander (A visitor to Nerima, or he had a deathwish because he was wearing Chinese clothing and had a black pigtail… so naturally he looked almost like Ranma from behind…)

A/N…

Nothing here much, most of the notes will be in the last chapter. Including a small cultural reference on to white day/valentine's day in japan…


	3. The interlude

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and all the characters, trademarks etc. belong to Rumiko Takahashi and to their other rightful owners. To sum it up: I don't own Ranma

"Spoken"

_-Thought-_

**D-Day, February 14th… V-Day, March 14th**

The interlude, in which animals are treated harshly…

It was the day after Valentine's day and Ranma wasn't a happy camper. He had a severe case of stomach ache and had been on a quite bad appetite during breakfast, refusing anything aside from plain rice. This was naturally seen as an affront towards her cooking by Akane who'd been responsible for making the miso soup, there had been some yelling followed by a fist induced trip into the koi pond. Turning into girl only served to make Ranma's stomach ache worse… and didn't do wonders to his mood.

Now he was walking towards school after Akane who was still fuming at the spectacle during breakfast. He sighed, deciding that clearing the air might be best. "Look Akane damn it… It wasn't your breakfast. It's just that I have a killer stomach ache. You see it was the chocolate." Ranma realized his mistake just as the words left his mouth, Akane went stiff, then slumped, then stiffened again… oh crap now she was hurt and furious. Springing into action the pigtailed martial artists jumped in front of her, hands raised in a warding gesture. "No Akane, that's not what I meant, there was nothing wrong with 'em… it's just that I um… ate 'em all."

Akane, her previous anger forgotten gaped at Ranma, he'd eaten almost two kilos of chocolate in one night… no wonder he had complications. "Ranma no baka! What ever possessed you to eat it all, I even made a little miscalculation and made three times too much of that stuff… and you ate it all in one sitting… B-A-K-A!"

Ranma toyed with his pigtail in embarrassment. "Uh well you see, if I hadn't then pops would have found it. And he would have either eaten it and/or would have gone ballistic and then we would have been hauled off to city hall faster than we could really even blink. So I decided to destroy the evidence… so to speak." He turned around and then, while starting to run towards the school, casually remarked. "Oh and I liked the idea behind those pepper chocolates… now hurry up you slowpoke…!"

------

The following week passed rather normally… Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi recovered and pestered Ranma as usual, Ryoga made his appearance again… he'd left to find hot water the day before Valentine's day and had managed to make a detour via Ichikawa, where he had almost been run over by a JSDF Type-74 Tank. This was naturally Ranma's fault, how… well only Ryoga knew, fact of the matter was however that Ranma had somehow held him from Akane's side during Valentine's day and that's the reason he didn't get any chocolate.

Then there was a major event that started off rather ominously, Tendo Nabiki was waiting for Ranma and Akane on the gates of Furinkan as they were leaving the campus. Ranma flinched at the aura of pure anger that radiating from the usually cool and collected Nabiki, she looked just like she always did but boy did she put of some heat. Nabiki fixed the now rather nervous Ranma with a freezing glare and bit out a vicious. "Akane… home. Ranma… with me, NOW!"

And so Ranma was following Nabiki, to where he didn't know… hell he didn't even know why he was following Nabiki, he knew nothing actually aside from the fact that Nabiki was way beyond pissed, which had been the very reason neither he nor Akane had tried to argue with the middle Tendo sister.

Finally they arrived at their destination, which was much to Ranma's surprise none other than the Ono bone-setting clinic. When they arrived he noticed several things at once. First the good doctor was looking downright frightening as Ranma had never seen him angry before but now… you could tell that he was almost as pissed as Nabiki. Then the neo-girl noticed something else, there on the floor… in a small cage was none other than the porcine bane of his existence… P-chan and on the floor next to the cage were a empty tea kettle and a water pitcher. He frowned, could it be that the jig was finally up and bacon bits would get what was coming to him. "So… is this about what I think it is?"

Nabiki narrowed her eyes. "So is what 'P-chan' told us true then? You knew and…"

She was cut off by Ranma though. "Exactly what did Ryoga tell you?" He had a pretty good guestimate as to what the story entailed but it never hurt to ask.

Nabiki bit her lip before answering. "To summarize… 'It's all Ranma's fault!'." Ranma smirked at this just as Nabiki continued. "But lets see, you escaped his wrath and ran from a duel, then pushed him into the pool, then you tried to molest Akane so he had to remain there to protect her, you blackmail him about his curse as he doesn't want Akane to find out as she would be crushed…"

She stopped to draw breath and continued before Ranma could interrupt. "…you turned Akari against him, you cheat around with your other fiancées, you always take all the credit for saving Akane even if it's not you who saves her… he used that birdpeople incident you had few months ago as an example and in general it's all your fault."

Now Nabiki was not stupid and knew full well that Ranma never run from anything, aside from cats and well anything generally resembling situation where feelings were involved… but he didn't run from fights, ever. Even if she had believed all that Ryoga had told her, the reaction from Ranma was somewhat intimidating… he began to glow. He took a step towards the cage and its cowering occupant, then another… Only thing that saved P-chan from becoming pork chops for real was Dr. Tofu who quickly moved behind Ranma and poked several shiatsu points in his back while saying "Calm down Ranma… remember... soul of ice."

Ranma stopped and took a few deep breaths. _-Right… control… soul of ice… control… the pig must die… control… soul of ice… Ok, I'm cool…-_ Letting out breath he'd held he nodded, once more in control. Dr. Tofu only patted him on the back. "I take it that you disagree with the young Hibiki on several points?"

Ranma smile wryly. "Well to summarize… 'It is not Ranma's fault!'" He chuckled lightly. "Lessee, I really can't tell if I knocked him to a spring in Jusenkyo or not… he said that there was a redhead and a panda but I can't remember colliding with anyone so it might just as well be that he saw a half naked redhead chasing a panda and didn't pay attention to where he was going… you know the way he walks to streetlights and other stuff whenever Akane talks to him." There was an indignant 'BWEE' coming from the small cage which was ignored by everyone.

Then Ranma hung his head in shame. "Then comes the part where I really did something stupid, see he told me about the girl and panda thing and… well I felt really bad about it so I swore not to tell anyone about it. And then he went and ran to Akane and decided to become her pet… that's why I was in her room that night, I was trying to get him away from her bed." Now Ranma was crouching down on the floor. "I tried to drop hints and everything but she just didn't get it, you didn't get it… I should have just told her, straight out but… I just cared too much about my damn honour and everything."

He sighed "Anyway, as for the rest, well Akari knew about the curse and didn't mind but saw him cuddling between Akane's breasts so I guess if you can figure how that is my fault you might tell me too." He then fixed a harsh glare at 'P-chan' "But I can't believe he would try to claim any credit in fighting Saffron, I fought him… I killed him… I saved her…" Both Nabiki and Dr. Tofu flinched at this, Nabiki at the word kill and Tofu at the mention of Saffron.

Ranma shrugged their amazement off. "Anyway I guess it's just my word against his right now but I at least ask that you inform Akane of this today, I can't because I swore on my honour. You didn't so…" Dr. Tofu nodded in relief, he didn't know this other boy all too well but he did know Ranma, who despite being rude and thoughtless was actually a very caring person… he was curious about him fighting Saffron though but that could wait.

Nabiki began to nod too, she had to admit that Ranma's version was much more plausible. According to Ryoga, Ranma ran a veritable harem of girls and she certainly would have noticed something like that. Not to mention the staggering amount of hints Ranma had dropped over the year, hints that in hindsight made perfect sense. And she knew for a fact that her baby sister loved the jerk so now all that was left was the damage control.

Nabiki was shaken from her planning by Ranma who was standing there asking for a favour. She scowled at the boy who flinched back reflexively. "So Saotome, even if I believe you… give me one reason why I should help you." The pigtailed boy's face steeled itself into a mask of determination and he leaned in closer to whisper something into the 'Ice-Queen's' ear, her eyes widened and then narrowed again. "Now Saotome, you realize that I could just sell that tidbit of information to just about anyone…"

She tapped her teeth with one fingernail and watched in amusement as Ranma's mask turned into one of horror. "But I wont… so… Tofu-sensei, would you be as kind as to take that… walking pork to the dojo later today, it seems that I need to have a little chat with Ranma-kun." She then left the clinic with a nervously smiling Ranma in tow.

Some fifty minutes later they were nearing the Tendo dojo and Nabiki was already making mental calculations. "You know Ranma-kun, or should I say 'brother dearest'… nah sounds too much like Kodachi doesn't it, that's a seriously thought up plan…" Her voice became saccharine sweet. "And dare I say… almost too romantic, coming from you at least." She smirked at the distraught martial artists who was making hushing gestures _-Always so easy Ranma-kun… but don't worry I won't blow it for you this time, I even stopped spying on your study sessions almost two months ago… though I won't tell that to anyone.-_

------

Akane was somewhat confused, Ranma, in a subdued tone, had asked her to come downstairs for something she should see. He had also apologized beforehand, muttering something about promise and how his own ego got in the way… it was confusing and it just got worse from there. Down in the living room stood Ryoga, cowering under a harsh glare that came from Kasumi of all people. Akane's question of "Oh when did Ryoga-kun get here?" was only met with silence and then a slowly upended pitcher of water... then there was only blackness.

Akane opened her eyes to see the concerned face of Ranma staring at her, she was in her own room and apparently on her bed with a wet cloth on her forehead. She sat up blinking "Ah I just had the weirdest dream, there was Ryoga-kun and then he turned into P-chan… but that's absurd, it would…" She got no further as Ranma continued her faltering sentence "…be just like a boy turning into a girl. I'm so sorry Akane, I really tried… I" His voice left him and he stood up. "I'll leave you to sort it out and…" He was stopped by a mallet that slammed into his skull and a scream of "BASTARD!"

When he came to he was lying on his back in Akane's room, his head hurt and his chest was wet. Akane was lying on his chest crying into his shirt, mumbling "How could he.", "I'm sorry", "Why didn't you just tell me?" and "Why, why, whyyy?" She also accentuated her crying with fists which caused more than slight pain to the downed boy.

Ranma took it all in a stride though, as Akane had apparently taken his involvement in the matter better than he'd anticipated… he gently wrapped his arms around the girl and began to rub her back soothingly. After Akane had calmed a little he began to explain his side of the story and exactly why had Ryoga been so insistent on playing her pet, something which elicited a growl of "Sukebe Buta" from Akane.

It took more than a hour to explain it all and calm Akane down afterwards, not that Ranma really minded seeing how all the explaining happened in their initial position, Ranma on the floor with Akane on top of him, his arms around her and Akane's face against his chest. Fifteen minutes after they went downstairs Ranma found himself in the same position, holding Akane who was now bawling her eyes out, this time the tears didn't stop until full two hours had passed.

------

The reason for the second bout of crying was the profound sense of betrayal, when they had made their way downstairs Ryoga had tried to attack Ranma, something that was foiled by several pressure points being pushed, subsequently he'd tried to blame Ranma for everything, something that was foiled by a vicious slap in the face from Kasumi who was quite frankly ready to skin the pig alive. Akane walked over the paralyzed boy and asked in a tiny voice a very simple question of "Why?"

Ryoga stiffened and came up with nothing, tried again but still got nothing… third time's the charm though and the obvious answer of "It's all Ranma's fault!" rose to his lips. Akane with her lips trembling just stared and then in almost inaudible voice spoke again. "Don't you ever dare to blame Ranma for your own actions… you… I never want to see you again so leave and don't come back." He splashed the boy turning him into a now former pet. "And if you try to hurt Ranma for this I swear I'll make pork buns out of you."

Suddenly there were party streamers flying around, Soun bawled and Genma declared in a loud voice "Ah see Tendo-kun, the jealousy plot worked… now the boy is bound to confess his love…" There was a 'Ssshkt' sound of a katana drawn and soon the naked blade deposited on his neck silenced Genma's babble. All the females, aside from Ranma who was actually a guy even if Akane's tears had triggered his transformation, in the room were staring at the two men… the silence stretched and the two fathers began to sweat nervously. "You knew?" was asked in an incredulous tone. "You knew and still you let that boy abuse Akane-chan's trust for the sake of trying to make Ranma jealous?"

Akane froze for a moment then with tears streaming from her eyes wheeled around and ran towards the safety of her own room with Ranma hot on her heels…

------

She was beginning to calm down one more when there was a soft knock on the door, but neither of them even tried to get up before the door opened admitting a rather distraught Kasumi. She smiled softly at the pair lying on the floor, some good had apparently come from the day's events. "Ranma, auntie has taken father and uncle to your house… it's not completely rebuilt but we decided that those two should help with the construction work… to give us a chance to decide how we are going to punish them." They just nodded at Kasumi who turned and left leaving them on the floor.

Akane buried her face into Ranma's, now female, chest she suddenly began to sob lightly and said between the sobs "I'm sorry Ranma… I thought you were a pervert when you snuck into my room and… I… I'm sorry."

The redhead simply smirked. "I've never snuck into your room to do anything perverted, though you probably wouldn't have believed me if you had caught me on the other times." At this Akane's grip on his chest tightened and there was a sharp intake of breath and something that sounded like "Other times?"

Ranma's smirk widened, the old Akane wasn't gone… thankfully. Then he realized that he would have to explain and fast if he wanted to keep his ribs intact. "Ah well… you see Akane, after Jusendo… I've started waking up every night around three or so, and I can't seem to go back to sleep unless I… unless I check that you are okay. I always use the Umi-Sen-Ken to go undetected when I did and then if he was here I'd remove Ryo… ah never mind." The grip began to loosen slightly. "It's a pain really, I mean having to check on you when ever you are at your friends house."

At this confession Akane suddenly jerked her hand to hair and tugged his head up so that she could see his eyes. "So it wasn't a dream?" She demanded and upon seeing the confused expression on his face continued. "Yuka said that she had the weirdest dream few weeks back, she said that when she went to get something to drink she saw something that looked like 'A pigtailed boy, namely Ranma, watching… guarding the house'. It was you right? You spent the whole night in a tree outside her house?"

Ranma blushed at this but managed to nod, something which earned him a bop on the head. "Ranma no baka… that was the coldest week we've had this winter… why the hell didn't you tell me about this." He began to mumble something inaudible and tried to avoid her eyes when the reality hit. _-I would have smacked him for being a hentai if he'd told me… that's why… oh Ranma.-_ Akane again buried her head into his female chest and began to sob softly. "Sorry… I won't call you a hentai anymore… please…"

------

Later Ranma looked around in his room, truly his now as Kasumi had informed him that Genma wouldn't be coming back, and if he did he wouldn't be sleeping in Ranma's room. The room looked somewhat empty now that there was no large panda snoring on the floor… he shrugged, and spread out his futon to the middle of the room. He stood there staring at the futon when a soft knock interrupted his musings, he raised an eyebrow as a blushing Akane entered the room, wearing her pyjamas and carrying a blanket and a pillow.

He just watched without saying anything as Akane stopped dead on her tracks, she was nervous and borderline between frustrated and scared. "I ah… I was... scared or... and I just thought that maybe I could… on the spare futon… that way you wouldn't have to get up to check on me either." Ranma didn't say anything, he really, really didn't trust himself to say the right thing, so instead he just went to the closet and retrieved another futon, spreading it near his own.

He formed a tentative smile and then motioned Akane towards the other futon, again only raising an eyebrow when Akane pushed the futons together after a moment of deliberation. He shrugged _-Well there goes my sleep-_ As he walked to the light switch he thankfully noted that Akane was lying on the very edge of her futon, shrugging it off he pulled the switch and then flopped on his own futon… as far from the other futon as humanly possible. After several minutes of silence he breathed out a soft "Good night Akane." before closing his eyes and attempting to drift into sleep.

Kasumi was greeted with a rather heart warming sight when she went to wake up Ranma the next day. The said martial artist had moved during the night from the other edge of his futon to the other edge, where he'd met with Akane, who'd had a similar nocturnal movement. The pair was now cradled in others arms, with Akane's head resting on Ranma's shoulder and his face pressed into her hair. Kasumi only thought _-Oh my!-_ and wowed to herself to give Ranma a lecture on proper behaviour… and on a second thought to Akane as well.

When the pair in question woke up, almost simultaneously for some reason, they sprang apart as soon as they realized the position they were in. However there were no fathers, fiancées, suitors or in general any other people there so they had no need to start loud denials. So they simply blushed and glanced at each other before both began to mumble something about 'Getting ready to school' or such and so…

The day went by peaceably, albeit the lecture from Kasumi was more than embarrassing enough. She stressed out to Ranma, later to Akane, that if they chose they could sleep in the same room but that premarital sex was a big nono.

Much to Ranma's amazement Akane actually asked him to prep the other futon when they were doing their homework. Again, he set the futon some distance from his own… only to have it moved by Akane before they got to bed. And again they set out on the opposite sides of their 'double' futon only to wake up in each others embrace in the morning. This rather humorous routine went on for a few more days until they just gave up and cuddled up side by side in the evening… only to wake up in the exact same position in the morning.

------

And herein ends the Interlude: in which animals were treated harshly… It was not actually show due the multiple threats I got from the PLA (Panda Liberation Army) and other radical, extremist animal rights terrorists groups. The pig got a restraining order and a bottle of tranquilizer (extra strong ones) and a reference to a shrink, just so that he could get rid of his depression. The panda got beaten repeatedly by the flat end of Nodoka's katana and was forced to work 20 hours daily doing heavy lifting at the Saotome home rebuilding site. He was also put on an exclusive Bamboo only diet… Tendo Soun got the same treatment, however his diet consisted of water, bread and rice.

A/N…

Nothing here much, most of the notes will be in the last chapter. Including a small cultural reference on to white day/valentine's day in japan…


	4. March 14th, V Day…

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and all the characters, trademarks etc. belong to Rumiko Takahashi and to their other rightful owners. To sum it up: I don't own Ranma

"Spoken"

_-Thought-_

**D-Day, February 14th… V-Day, March 14th**

March 14th, V-Day… also known as White Day...

Akane woke up and immediately felt that something was amiss. The comfortable warmth that she'd come to associate as Ranma was not there like it had been for every morning during the last three weeks. She bolted upright and looked around in the room, there was no Ranma there but on his futon there was a heart shaped box with a letter addressed to her on the top. Her heart sped up… he had remembered white day…

Eagerly like a giddy little girl she grasped the letter and tore it open… it read.

"Dear Akane. I'm not good with words so I decided this way to wish you happy white day… Also watch your teeth when you are eating your prize, chew softly. What is there is there because I do care. Sincerely: Ranma"

They still hadn't talked about their relationship, she had tried a few times but Ranma had been unwilling to venture into the discussion only stating that they should bide their time. She would have gotten angry then but there was something in his eyes that stopped her… something that begged for patience. But now, she felt elated, there it was in writing… in black and white… he, Saotome Ranma did care. It didn't say 'I love you' or anything but, still. _-Though most of this is really cryptic… chew softly… what's that supposed to mean?-_

She showed her wonder aside and opened the box, finding inside a assortment of white chocolates and in the middle there was a largish chocolate heart that had a small note next to it saying "Eat me first… watch your teeth…" Akane shook her head and took the heart from its place and began softly to nibble on it.

Some fifteen minutes later there was a furious trampling sound when Akane blurred downstairs past the only partially awake Nabiki and Kasumi who was just setting the table, leaving them both look after their little sister in amazement. Ranma, who was sitting in the dojo trying to meditate to calm his nerves, cocked his ears at the sound but wasn't really prepared for the assault that followed… he was sent flying as Akane came in full speed and leap tackled him.

Ranma fell backwards and after a few moments of dizziness noticed that he was pinned down to the floor by glowing Akane who was sitting on his chest. He didn't quite have a chance to recover before Akane held something in front of his eyes and ask in a quivering tone. "Saotome Ranma… does this really mean what I think it means?" Ranma blinked and then focused at the object in her hand, blinked again and then nodded dumbly.

Akane squealed out in delight and gave him a bone crushing hug that nearly crippled him for life and with an almost triumphant smile slipped the intricate gold and silver band into her finger. She had really been surprised when the little chocolate heart had revealed an object wrapped in soft plastic inside. More so when the plastic had revealed a ring in which gold and silver bands came together to form a yin-yang symbol, and finally she was almost blown away when she noticed the inscription on the inside of the ring. There was his name and hers, with a small infinity symbol in between.

Suddenly she was shaken out from her reverie by a slight movement from beneath her, she blinked… right she was sitting on her fiancé. She blushed at first but began to smile mischievously a second later. Quickly checking that the dojo door was clear of any offending parents or fiancée wannabes she turned at the now quite hot feeling Ranma. She lowered her head just slightly and whispered. "Ne… Ranma, how about a little kiss for your fiancée?"

She watched in amusement as the boy swallowed nervously and nodded weakly. Suddenly though he seemed to go calm and brought his hands up behind her and began to pull her downwards, she complied and soon their lips were almost touching. Ranma flashed his trademark cocky grin and whispered "I'm so glad…" before pulling her closer for their first real kiss… and then the second, and so on as the pent up frustrations of the past year and a half, the last several months and the last three weeks in particular began to unwind.

Their technique was sloppy at start but the tentative and chaste kisses began rapidly to evolve into an intricate anything goes martial arts tongue fencing form. Taking only minute pauses to suck the much needed oxygen into their lungs they spent the next moments practicing this new an intriguing form of training. They were forced to stop when a soft "Oh my!" and an amused "Go sis!" were heard from the dojo door.

The pair stopped their, uh training but didn't spring apart as per usual but chose instead to stay right there wrapped in each others arms. Nabiki took advantage of the opportunity and flashed a picture of them stating that it was for 'posterity's sake' while Kasumi only stared, she wasn't privy on Ranma's master plan that involved chocolate and an 'uncute' tomboy. Kasumi was about to say something when Nabiki grabbed her sleeve and dragged her back into the house promising to explain it all to her in length.

In the dojo Akane rested her head on Ranma's chest before asking. "What now? I mean… what will you say to the others?"

Ranma shifted slightly and began to caress her hair. "Well I asked Nabiki for some help so… anyway if the old ghoul starts to give me too much trouble Nabiki said she could get a deportation order on them. You know, Shampoo lied to me… she said that she'd be executed should she return without a husband, but that's all bull. She was just trying to guilt trip me into doing stuff, what she really gets is a year or two of penance, cleaning the toilets and the like… personally I don't really care anymore, haven't after the failed wedding…"

He shivered lightly when Akane kissed his throat. "The Kuno's can't really be touched, that batty big 'Kahuna' is just too well connected, not to mention rich. Well they can't be touched unless they really go out of their way to hurt someone but… they aren't all that though really. And as for Ukyo… well mom informed me that basically she will only recognize one engagement and that would be the one I want so… and as for the yatai, it's cost was subtracted from the damages Ukyo did when she wrecked mom's house."

At this Akane sat up and playfully swatted Ranma on the head "You jerk… you mean to tell me that you have had his fiancée mess sorted out for months now and you didn't even bother to tell me." Ranma smiled sheepishly. "You… you jerk… why I even bother with you never ceases to amaze me." She lowered her face towards his. "And you haven't even said that you lo…hmph"

She was cut of by Ranma's lips that sealed hers for a moment. "If I say it out loud then something is bound to happen… this is Nerima after all… but still." He pulled Akane closer and then whispered almost inaudibly "I still do… you know… love…you…" he then turned his head while blushing madly, kissing aside, and that was something that was pretty much guided by hormones, he still wasn't really good with talking about stuff like this, he probably never would be.

Luckily he was saved by a gasp from Akane. "Ranma, you said you got help from Nabiki… how could you afford something like that?" The pigtailed boy began to squirm uncomfortably and muttered something causing Akane to narrow her eyes and demand "What was that?"

Ranma looked forlorn and said "I promised that she could sell our first born on the open slave market." Akane fell sideways to the ground only to be caught by Ranma. "Geeze Akane… give me some credit here. Actually I did promise her a small cut on the dojo's profits this summer, see I was thinking we could try to you know… teach summer classes. She even guaranteed full rosters if I would work in my girl form every now and then."

Akane started to make strangling sounds, selling their first born would probably be a smaller price to pay than the mysterious 'small' cut. After few moments she managed to wheeze out a question. "How 'small' a cut did you promise? 120 percent, 150 percent?" Ranma tried to evade the question but in vain, he was after all trapped underneath the inquisitor.

Frustrated Ranma finally blurted out "Look get it through your thick skull that she'd skin me alive if I told you that she settled for a five percent, seven and a half if …" He slapped his forehead while muttering "Crap… now I'm really dead… look Akane don't tell Nabiki but I think she's growing soft or something, I mean she offered a seven and a half deal which would include all the paperwork and public relations plus a few hefty deals from her local connections that need self defence courses."

Akane just stared Ranma for a moment thinking about her sisters uncharacteristic offer but shrugged it off _-Well she'll probably claim it was an early wedding present later but still, it's a nice gesture… and it would be nice to try some teaching during the summer.-_ She decided that Ranma needed some tongue lashing anyway so proceeded to do just that, in a very literal sense… they both felt rather flustered when Kasumi again interrupted stating that breakfast was ready.

During the breakfast Ranma and Akane had to stand constant teasing from Nabiki who was fanning herself and constantly pointing out how they sat closer together and what not. She even inquired Akane things that made Ranma almost choke on his tea… seriously questions like 'So how's his finger dexterity, any great martial arts techniques there?' were not something you'd expect in a breakfast table. On an interesting note it Akane didn't seem to mind the questions and returned fire with her own barbed questions that made Nabiki's smile widen and Ranma's blush deepen.

Just before they left for school Kasumi promised to call Ranma's mother and tell her the good news and also to keep the moronic fathers in dark about recent developments. In fact neither Genma nor Soun had set foot in the Tendo household in the past three weeks, and were slaving away rebuilding the Saotome home.

------

They made good speed towards the school until they came to the part of Nerima known as 'Amazon Ambush Zone' and surely enough a loud yell of "Airen, no go school come date Xian Pu!" was heard as a purple haired Amazon pedalled furiously towards the pair. Ranma managed to dodge the bicycle that was aimed for him but was unable to evade the boa constrictor like glomp of the lovesick catgirl.

This time Akane didn't mallet Ranma though, as he was trying to wiggle free from the death grip. Finally Ranma managed to slip from the hug and jumped a few meters away from Shampoo. "Now look Shampoo, I gotta go to school… but promise you won't bother me today and tomorrow and I'll come to the cat café on Friday…"

Shampoo's eyes sparkled "Ayah! Airen come see Shampoo?..." She was so ecstatic that she missed the loud "Mostly the old ghoul really." from Ranma as she picked up her bicycle and began to pedal towards the café to begin preparations for her big 'date' with Ranma. Ranma sweatdropped and looked at Akane who simply shrugged with an expression that said 'See I told you she's a bimbo.'

They made it to the school, again punting the 'blue thunder' to the skies and ran to the classroom where Akane's friends immediately spotted the ring on her finger. The squeal of "Akane-chan… did he finally propose to you?" got everyone's undivided attention, the guys ganging on Ranma and the girls swarming on Akane to hear the hottest new story in Furinkan high.

Some students even left the classroom to spread the 'info' before even verifying what exactly had happened, luckily though it was a commonly held fact that Akane and Ranma were a couple regardless of the other fiancées and vehement denials the pair used so the rumour wouldn't be too far of the mark.

Ukyo naturally was torn between anticipation and dread, it could have been Ran-chan who had proposed or it could have been the bacon-boy… she was not yet aware that Ryoga's cover had been blown and that he had gotten flat out rejected. Unable to stand the tension she made her gingerly towards the mass of girls and quietly asked from the group. "So you accepted the pig-boy's proposal right? Ran-chan is now mine and we can all be happy…"

She began to falter under the glares from Akane's friends, who had recently learned about the true nature of 'P-chan' from Akane. "So Kuonji… you knew about that creep and didn't even have the dignity to tell Akane-chan about that bastard. Why you should…"

They were cut off by Akane who waved her left hand prominently displaying the ring to Ukyo. "Why no Ukyo, I would never have anything to do with scum like him… and after all I have my Ranma-chan so why would I need some two bit lost boy…" Her words struck home like a lightning bolt making Ukyo to stagger backwards and finally scream out loud "NO!"

She turned around and ran straight into the horde of boys surrounding Ranma and then dragged him out by his pigtail. "Ran-chan tell me that Akane is lying… there's no way you could give an engagement ring to her. I'm your 'cute' fiancée remember." She put on her best pleading and reasonable look.

Ranma just shook his head "No Uccha… Ukyo, I have told you time and time again that all I ever wanted was to be your friend. I said that you are cute, you are, but it's you who decided that I loved you and wanted to marry you… without as much as asking me."

The okonomiyaki chef blinked, true she hadn't asked Ranma but then it was obvious she was the best candidate… not to mention the fact that Ranma was obliged to marry her. "Ran-chan… you are not thinking right, you are promised to me and you will marry me, remember you took my yatai so that's why you are going to do the right thing and give me that ring and then we…"

She got no further when Ranma all but screamed. "I owe you? I OWE YOU?" He threw his hands in the air in disgust. "First of all I didn't choose to take your yatai… it was pops, no matter how he would try to make it look like my fault. Second I, nor my family owes you nothing Kuonji… not for the yatai since the damage you did to my mother's house was far more than the cost of that yatai and whatever interest its value would have cumulated over the years."

Now the veins in his neck were bulging out. "I only wanted to be your friend but you are just like most everyone else… it's always about you, how I should just roll over and do tricks… be a good boy at your beck and call. Shampoo wants me as a baby machine for her tribe, you want me to be some weird daddy/chef/worker/whatever, pops wants me to be his meal ticket and Kodachi…well who even wants to know. But it's not going to happen… I do my own decisions and luckily my mother supports that, and this is the end of this discussion."

He sat down in a huff completely ignoring everyone around. Then something snapped in the mind of Kuonji Ukyo, so she formulated a quick plan and she screamed "Ranma you jackass… first you sleep with me and then you ditch me like some used plaything. I HATE YOU!" This caused several instantaneous effects, namely the area around the stunned Ranma cleared in a heartbeat and an ominous crackling aura began to make its way towards him.

Ukyo smiled inwardly when she observed the rage that was Akane descent upon the hapless Ranma. _-In the end Ran-chan will thank me for this… I'm after all the cute one who can cook unlike someone.-_ She began to gloat "Yeah it's hard to believe isn't it, we've been sleeping together for almost every night for the last three weeks, I mean I could be pregnant already… that would be so nice." The mallet stopped in mid swing as Akane looked at Ukyo. "For the last three weeks?"

She nodded. "Sorry sugar but that's the truth, ever since 'Father' Genma got kicked out from your house I've been sneaking to his bed so that he wouldn't be so lonely, at his insistence of course…" Now Ukyo had gotten that piece of information from Nabiki when she purchased her weekly info about the comings and goings of the Tendo Dojo, but didn't know that Nabiki had been selling her incomplete information.

Akane's face got a predatory look on it as she looked from Ukyo to Ranma who was violently shaking his head to stop her from doing what she was about to do. _-Oh man, if she blurts out that we've been sleeping in the same bed for that very duration those perverts that call themselves my friends will never leave me alone…-_

Akane's smile widened. "You know you are right Ukyo… it is hard to believe, even harder seeing as how you didn't even wake me up. And I was snuggled right into him so you must have really been quiet." She shook her head and said "What you didn't know did you? For the first week we went to sleep on different futons only to wake up in the morning all tangled together in the middle so after a week we just decided to go to sleep all tangled up." She stretched languidly and added "Haven't slept better in my whole life than during these three weeks… must be that his chest makes such a good pillow."

Ukyo froze into her place and then slowly keeled over with a loud 'thud'. The boys who had a moment earlier vacated the area surrounding Ranma swarmed back and began to launch ecchi questions at him at lightning speeds. The girls massed around Akane asking just slightly less ecchi questions, making little 'Ooh how sweet' comments when she described their nocturnal behaviour and casting glares, that said 'You are so cut off missy', towards the prone Ukyo.

The rumour spread like a wildfire naturally and thus Ranma had to beat up Kuno twice while Akane administered a dosage of pain to the self proclaimed samurai legend once. All in all the general consensus around the school was 'It's about damn time.' although more than one girl was sighing in dismay because the hunkiest guy in school was now totally out of the playing field… not that he really never was there but the beefcake photos sold by Nabiki had kept their imagination active, and this was Nerima so the oddest thing could happen.

As it was now out in the open the pair exited school, holding hands first time in public and making more than one girl swoon at the sight of a perfect ending to a Valentine's Day/White Day story. The guys naturally hated Ranma because all they got was "Ranma did this for Akane on White Day" or "Ranma did that for Akane on …" from their girls...

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And herein ends the V-Day… Ranma managed to ask Akane to marry him without saying almost anything. Kodachi found out about the ring and flew into a rage, and in her blind rage she accidentally blew one of her smoke bombs and then fell into Midorikame's pond and got bitten by the alligator. Latest report state that the animal is still in critical condition due severe food poisoning, whilst Ms. Kuno is being held pending charges, depending whether or not the animal in questions will survive.

A/N…

Nothing here much, most of the notes will be in the last chapter. Including a small cultural reference on to white day/valentine's day in japan…


	5. The Postlude, in which stuff happens

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and all the characters, trademarks etc. belong to Rumiko Takahashi and to their other rightful owners. To sum it up: I don't own Ranma

"Spoken"

_-Thought-_

**D-Day, February 14th… V-Day, March 14th**

The Postlude, in which stuff happens and time flies by…

Saotome Ranma was worried, Akane was in pain and there was very little he could do. All could really do was to try and stay out of the way while a horde of white clad doctors and nurses bustled about. Akane screamed in pain... he was worried.

There was a lull in action and he cast his mind into the events that had led to this moment. There was the Valentine's day plot, then he'd explained things to the Amazons… Shampoo had flown into a rage but the old ghoul had actually been rather amiable, especially since Ranma had stated that if someone tried to hurt Akane he would go all out. There was no reaction to that until he clarified to the withered Amazon that he wouldn't just go around things to protect her, he would go through them just like he had gone through Saffron.

That had gotten Cologne's attention, apparently Shampoo had been somewhat vague in her report about the events that took place in Jusendo, in her fear that Cologne would forbid her from chasing Ranma anymore. She was right, as soon as the old bat recovered from her headfirst plummet to the floor, her first in over fifty years, she bashed Shampoo into oblivion and stated quickly afterwards that Ranma was exempt from all kisses of death, marriage and whatever else.

That had been three years ago, and they had been married for almost as long as that. He winced as Akane gripped his hand with that gorilla strength of hers. "Ranmaaaah… no bakaah… I'll kill you when I get up from here, this is all your damn fault. ARRRGH." Ranma winced again as he watched his wife go through her first labour and tried to soothe her by gently stroking her matted hair. That was a mistake as Akane's sharp teeth sunk into his hand, almost drawing blood, luckily there was another contraction that forced Akane to let go.

She stared Ranma with bloodshot eyes. "You jerk I swear if you ever stick that damn thing in me I'll break it off!" She groaned again "Now get here you jerk and give me that hand so I can at least break it in two…" Ranma complied and soon felt like his hand was in a vice… and the labour went on. Several hours later, the whole seventeen hour marathon was over and Akane after having yelled at Ranma for making her pregnant with triplets had swiftly fallen asleep.

Ranma just sat there next to his sleeping wife, not quite believing that he was now a father, and to triplets no less, they had decided no to know the sex or number of their kid/kids so that it would be a surprise. He snapped out of it when someone shook his shoulder gently… it was the doctor who had overseen the childbirth. "Mr. Saotome if you would be as kind to name the babies so that we can then take you to radiology… someone needs to look at that arm of yours, it has to be broken from no less than three places." Ranma nodded dumbly, no wonder his arm was slightly stiff… He walked over the three little bundles and quickly pointed each out.

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When Akane woke up she was feeling slightly uncomfortable, she looked about and noticed Ranma sitting next to her bed, absently scratching a bright while cast on his right arm. "Umm Ranma… what happened to your hand? Are you alright? What about our babies?" She really didn't have time to ask anymore questions as Ranma hugged her and then kissed her forehead.

He smiled sheepishly and pointed at the cast. "Well I really wasn't kidding about your gorilla strength tomboy… did you really have to break my arm. But I forgive you if you won't kill me like you promised, it would be cruel to leave our triplets without a father and a mother figure now wouldn't it?"

He smiled at Akane who was fuming on the bed. "Anyway… here's Kimiko, she has blue hair, brown eyes and looks like her mother and her grandmother, hopefully she doesn't turn out to be a macho tomboy like her mommy though… she's also the eldest." He handed the bundle to Akane who was too preoccupied with her daughter to get mad at Ranma… besides she'd already broken a few bones so that was punishment enough… for now.

She looked up to see Ranma handing her another bundle. "And here's Nodoka, she's got red hair and blue eyes like her other 'mother' and grandmother, she's the youngest." He picked up the last bundle and showed it to Akane. "And here's the champ, Tenma. He has black hair and blue eyes, is obviously smartest by sending one of the girls to scout ahead before making his appearance. Also he's obviously superior to others… why just look at him, mom said he looks just like me when I was his age. He got a Saotome appetite too according to the nurses."

Akane just glared at Ranma but couldn't help laughing at the mock-seriousness that the brand new triple dad was exhibiting. Ranma put the last bundle to her lap and then kissed Akane on the lips whispering "I love you…"

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Four more years passed, the now twenty four year old couple was sitting in the living room listening as the sounds of their children were fading away. There was a loud "Tomboys!" and equally loud duet of "Baka!" and then there was Nodoka's voice chiding the little grandchildren on their behaviour "Now behave or Panda-ojiichan won't show you any tricks when we get home" this of course elicited a chorus of "HAI Obaachan!"

Ranma and Akane just sat there holding each other and shaking their heads, the kids were really a handful. If it wasn't for Nodoka and Kasumi who both loved taking care of them they would be in a load of trouble… only thing that really quieted them down was a threat not to teach them any martial arts, something that the children shared was a unending love for the art. On an interesting note it seemed that Tenma favoured totally unarmed techniques, while Kimiko seemed to be fond of blunt objects and Nodoka seemed to be into swords… something that caused no end of amusement among those who knew their parents.

After the children's voices had faded into the distance Akane began slowly nibbling Ranma's neck. "Ne Ranma… I was thinking, while it's obviously your fault that we got triplets it's not so bad right… and I was kind of thinking that maybe we could have more kids." She now moved towards his earlobe while slowly standing up and pulling Ranma with her… leading him towards a closet which she opened revealing a large cardboard box.

Ranma enjoyed the slow ministrations while eyeing the box with interest. "What's that?" he asked in a suspicious tone. Akane just smiled and opened the box revealing… soap. "Waterproof soap from Jusenkyo? Wow, this is really neat… now we can go to the beach and stuff… thanks 'Kane-chan."

Akane just smiled ruefully and said "No silly… that's for totally another purpose. Remember when you said when I commented on how hard it was to give birth… no? Well I do. You said 'Bleh an unfeminine chick like you would probably have lots of trouble… now me I…'" Ranma began to sweat at this. "Sooo I was just wondering if it would be your time to take part on the 'motherly' duties." She smiled at Ranma's obvious discomfort. "Or are you scared you can't hack it?"

Ranma cleared his throat, now that was a challenge. "No look Akane it's not about that it's just I mean who would be the father… and I mean I don't think I could you know… with a guy."

Akane smiled evilly _-Almost there, challenging him always works… not that I want to make him do it if he doesn't want to but that pregnancy was a hell… and I still want more kids.-_ She kissed his jaw and traced a finger across his chest. "Well that's already taken care off… there's a rather generous sample from 'Akane-kun' at the left wing of Nerima General. I ordered some instant Nanniichuan too and put it to good use." She began to run her hand along Ranma's lower back.

"So how about a little bet…" Ranma quirked an eyebrow and nodded. "We have the whole weekend and I really wouldn't mind more kids… I haven't renewed my prescription of pills…" She breathed the last part into his hear making him shiver. "So… if you can't get me pregnant during this weekend then…" She felt Ranma stiffen slightly _-Gotcha, hook, line and sinker…-_

Ranma pondered on the situation, he had over the years come to accept that the curse was permanent, especially after what had happened to Taro when he'd attempted to jump into the Nanniichuan… there were still several teams of biologists, archaeologists and miscellaneous scientists looking for the mythical Pan/Minotaur/Bull man/whatever. Still, they hadn't really ever talked about him getting pregnant… it was interesting, yet frightening idea. However, there was a challenge thrown towards him, he was the damn wild horse after all, no way could he fail in what Akane proposed.

He snorted "Hah, I'll even give you a handicap and stay girl every few times…" good thing they didn't have any classes during the weekend, this was just the two of them… a little quality time without the kids. "Anyway… I wont promise anything though, I mean we would have to think it through carefully… but… I promise I'll let you try and talk me into it if you won't… you know."

Akane beamed, she wasn't really trying to make Ranma go through pregnancy… that was just an added bonus possibility, what she really was after was Ranma… a highly motivated Ranma focused on only one thing. She put her head against his chest and said "So love… what are we waiting for… time without the kids is wasting!" She squealed when Ranma grabbed her and began to lope towards their bedroom.

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Meanwhile, somewhere in Japan. "Aarrgh where am I now? Ranma this is all… oh time for my medication." A strong looking young man popped a few pills into his mouth and looked around "Ahahahaha where am I now? It's so great to always see new places… I'm so happy!"

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And herein ends the Postlude: in which stuff happened, time went by, Akane and Ranma copulated like wild rabbits for one weekend and Ryoga was happily doped up to his eyeballs with antidepressants. Also Kimiko, Tenma and Nodoka learned that when you kick panda in the groin, it will kneel over in pain and that whenever they spent the weekend away, mommy and daddy would walk differently few days afterwards and be in a really good mood.

A/N…

It's unknow whether or not Akane or Ranma got 'knocked up' after the weekend... whatever floats your boat I guess...

Well, here's my Ranma ½ Valentine's fic… I noticed that Valentine's day was coming last Friday (10th) and then during my bout of hangover on Sunday pretty much began to think about a Valentine's day fic. Anyway here it is so…

Review or I'll send Happi to your room at night if you are a girl or Cologne if you are a guy… after I feed them double whammy of passion spice that is.

Also I would like opinions on what you would like to read after I finish my Naruto fic… I have two weird Ranma ideas floating around (One which involves teaching Akane to cook, unknown flying pigs over area51 and some other crazy stuff, the other which involves Ranma 'kidnapping' Akane to get away and stuff like that…)

Note that the pig must suffer, be humiliated or otherwise ridiculed in every fic. Seriously I just hate Ryoga… the funny thing is that I hate Rumiko Takahashi's another antagonist Kouga almost as much, I don't know why I just do…

Okay… that for that then ladies and gentlemen. Now for the promised cultural reference.

February 14th… Valentine's day (If you don't know what it is then get out from the closet you live in)… in Japan girls give chocolate to guys they like during Valentine's day.

March 14th… White day, one month after Valentine's day the guys who got chocolate from the girl they like return the favour by giving chocolate and/or gifts such as jewellery to that particular girl.

D-Day/V-Day… D-day marks the day that a military operation is to start. There's only one really famous D-Day so if you have never heard the term D-Day then watch 'Saving Private Ryan' if you still don't get it D-day as in 'the' refers to the day when allied forces began operation Overlord and landed into Normandy during WWII. If you don't know what WWII is then… uh don't know really what would help on that.

V-Day stands for Victory Day… so in this fic it would mean... blah I'm sure you figure it out right?


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